Adam Lambert Not Shaken by Loss

Considering that he’d been touted as the greatest natural performer to ever grace the American Idol stage in his season-long run to the finals, you couldn’t really fault surprise runner-up Adam Lambert if he’d been a little displeased with his second-place finish to Kris Allen.

But speaking to OK! after Wednesday’s exhilirating results extravaganza, Adam seemed not just okay with having lost out to Kris — he seemed downright happy.

"I felt so good. I got to sing with Queen and KISS!" the San Diego native said, looking at all the positives of the night. "First or second, it doesn’t matter to me; I got to sing with two great heroic rock bands."

According to Adam, he wasn’t as surprised by the results as most of the audience was. "I knew it was going to be a close race," he admitted. "I think Kris is incredibly talented and he’s a good person, so to me it was like, we know it’s going to be close; whatever happens, happens. We’ve made it this far, got to do a really cool finale and we’re both going to get to do great things now in the future.

"For me, it’s not really about what happens tonight," added the rocker. "It’s about tomorrow. It’s about next."

And, says Adam, tomorrow can’t come fast enough. "I know that we’re going to start working on some music right away, and that’s what I can’t wait to do — to collaborate, to write, to co-write and create visuals that go along with the music, too," he explained. "I think that’s going to be really exciting."

MORE PICS FROM THE IDOL FINALE!

As the first openly gay Idol contestant to make it to the finale, Adam’s personal life had become the stuff of Internet rumor in recent weeks as stories circulated saying that conservative Christians would turn out in droves to vote for Kris — not because he’s the better performer, but merely because he’s a Christian. And though Wednesday night’s results opened the door for Adam to theorize that theology might have gotten in his way of winning, he was the first one to shrug off those thoughts.

"The blogs have a lot of opinions, don’t they?" he joked. "I think Kris won because he’s a great artist and I was happy to be runner-up to that."

Adam says his focus is squarely on making the most of the opportunities being on Idol has provided him.

"My dream now is to make a really dope record, to do something new, to push the boundaries a little bit, push people’s buttons, open people’s minds up a little bit," he said. "You know what was really cool about Kris being in the finals tonight is: We are seemingly so different but we found a way to get along and find a common bond, mostly through music but also just through talking and getting to know each other.

"And if there’s anything that could come from this experience that I hope all the fans can pick up is that even if you’re really different, there’s a way to get along with each other, and it’s not about, oh, you beat me because of this or you’re different. It’s about finding the common stuff that makes it work."

Do you think Adam deserved to be the winner? Go to twitter.com/okmagazine and have your say! Reporting by Carole Glines